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first of all, before I even say another word, thank you everyone for your support and excellent advice
now as I move forward, I am transferring to another university, thing is, I feel awkward going to college in the same town I went to high school in and it feels so restrictive, not much to do and I have actively seeked out things to do as well
transferring is the first option of mines and as for the major, I am deciding to switch from chemistry to biology to see if maybe the memorization type sciences are my thing, if that does not work well then it is time for political science....
first of all, before I even say another word, thank you everyone for your support and excellent advice
now as I move forward, I am transferring to another university, thing is, I feel awkward going to college in the same town I went to high school in and it feels so restrictive, not much to do and I have actively seeked out things to do as well
transferring is the first option of mines and as for the major, I am deciding to switch from chemistry to biology to see if maybe the memorization type sciences are my thing, if that does not work well then it is time for political science....
Cool man, it sounds like a good idea. I can't remember from your other posts if you said you transferred yet or not but if you haven't you should probably apply now. Most deadlines are March 1.
One big mistake I made in college was jumping chin deep in each major I chose. That really screwed me over, try to make a more subtle change and take a semester to check out a couple different areas to see what you like best.
I hate to sound like a whiner but literally had no control over my situation until now. At first it was my parents making my life into absolute hell at home in high school, got some stability there and they basically controlled all of my decisions for college. Ended up going to college near home. Did not want to take some science courses early on but got pushed into it hard by parents, by that I mean they basically said this is what you are majoring in and that is that. They had access to ALL of my information and everything, these people were like FREAKING NORTH KOREA in my life.
They sent me to a ghetto high school, raised me in the dumps, had unrealistic expectations of me only for their own benefit. Dad could never be a doctor so he tried to force the dream on to me.
At the age of 19, I have finally got my parents off my back, permanently. I have literally told them to get lost and they have done so.
I just want to know that if I switch my major to say Sociology or Political science (stuff I wanted to study) and get a high GPA there, do I still have a chance at say Harvard Law or maybe NYU, UNC, Columbia, Northwestern, or any of those schools for my graduate studies?
Maybe my reading comprehension is off, but I thought you were interested in finance/business when I read your other thread. Then you say you are thinking about switching from Chem to Bio, and now you are talking about Soci or Pol Sci. You need to figure out what you want.
There is something ominous about the way you say you got rid of your parents, "permantly". Where are they, and who will pay for the rest of your schooling? Are you thinking of living in a dorm? Parents willing to pay?
Maybe my reading comprehension is off, but I thought you were interested in finance/business when I read your other thread. Then you say you are thinking about switching from Chem to Bio, and now you are talking about Soci or Pol Sci. You need to figure out what you want.
You really DO need to figure that out... otherwise you are spend lots of money on credits you don't need.
"Ivy schools" are just that - prestigious. 1+1 is 2 at the local Community College and at Harvard. But since Americans are so obsessed with those schools, many try to get in. Therefore, the admission standards are very competitive. Meaning you have to be a very good student. OR, in other words, you have to be ambitious. Prospective employers know that. You have a little bit of an advantage because you are a different type of person to begin with, not because 1+1= 10000 at Harvard and Co.
Let's take Zuckerberg. I know he dropped out, but he was good enough to get in. Anybody in his Computer Science class could have done what he did. He simply programmed facebook to be able to communicate with other classmates. He didn't do anything extraordinary. He just had a vision and a goal, and he kept on pursuing it until it eventually got bigger and bigger and, well, you know the rest. He's filthy rich. Harvard didn't contribute to that. It was all him.
Zuckerberg is an outlier. Very much like Gates and Jobs. But consider Buffet. He attributes his success to the education he received at Columbia. Still an outlier.
1+1=2 everywhere. Every school teaches that. But not every school does a good job at teaching why and how to figure it out if you were never told it. Good schools (Harvard, Yale, etc) provide a better quality education by attracting superior faculty and providing opportunities above and beyond the norm. You don't want to go to a school that makes you read a textbook and take an exam to regurgitate information. You might as well go to County college if that's what you're looking for.
OP, you're dream to attend a good quality school is one very well worth following through with. And you have plenty of opportunity to do so. But you need to focus on preparing your submissions to these schools. 2.7gpa is horrible at the university level, but not unrecoverable. If you continue on your path to get A's, and study/train well for the graduate exam, you'll meet your goal.
Zuckerberg is an outlier. Very much like Gates and Jobs. But consider Buffet. He attributes his success to the education he received at Columbia. Still an outlier.
1+1=2 everywhere. Every school teaches that. But not every school does a good job at teaching why and how to figure it out if you were never told it. Good schools (Harvard, Yale, etc) provide a better quality education by attracting superior faculty and providing opportunities above and beyond the norm. You don't want to go to a school that makes you read a textbook and take an exam to regurgitate information. You might as well go to County college if that's what you're looking for.
OP, you're dream to attend a good quality school is one very well worth following through with. And you have plenty of opportunity to do so. But you need to focus on preparing your submissions to these schools. 2.7gpa is horrible at the university level, but not unrecoverable. If you continue on your path to get A's, and study/train well for the graduate exam, you'll meet your goal.
that and the thing about good schools is good students, when you are around good students you tend to be a good student
You are talking about several different majors, mixing and matching professional school (Harvard Law is a professional school) and graduate school.
As I mentioned before, professional school will be a lot more difficult to recover from a bad early GPA than graduate school. Based on your comment about "look at both GPAs", I think you are actually looking specifically at professional school. If that is the case, you are going to need to start prepping for the admissions exam now. That will be one of the keys to offsetting your GPA.
Start talking to professors associated with the type of school you want (e.g. if you want law, talk professors who are in your major but have appointments in the law school) about what you need to do in order to get in.
Also, understand that your goal then is to be a professional. Although Harvard Law would write you a big ticket, tens of thousands of big firm partners are from state schools too. A Harvard Law student who is mediocre their first two years professional is going to be worse off than a big state school law graduate who excels professionally their first two years. It is similar for other professional school disciplines.
If you are going to go to graduate school (MA, MS, PhD, etc.), then you have more time. In reality, you do not even have to graduate in the field you want to study in grad school. Your biggest priority right now, other than keeping your grades up, is going to be to find a professor to work with. You want to do research, and you will have to spend a year cleaning the glassware or something equivalent before then. It will pay off in getting a crack at real research and a solid letter of reference. That will give you an edge that will offset your first 50 hours GPA.
But you need to figure out, at least roughly, what you plan to do. The really good news? You can change midstream. I actually do know people who made elite law schools and elite med schools years after they graduate undergrad. I'm an example of someone who made an elite grad school even though I took 13 years to get my BS. It can be done. The route is just a heck of a lot longer and a lot more complicated.
One of the most unhappiest people i know went to Harvard Law School. That's after getting a BA at another Ivy League school. This is a person who was pushed in a certain direction early on (pushed by parents). An Ivy degreee is sweet, but it doesn't make for a happy person.
for now I have made it my goal to transfer though, I just really find it suffocating to live at home while going to college.
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